If the BBC were to cut another Doctor Who story into a movie-length adventure, which one should they pick?
In 2025 ‘The Sea Devils‘ became the latest Doctor Who story to receive the cut-down treatment, following in the footsteps of the revamped ‘The Daleks’ and ‘The War Games.’ The rationale, it’s assumed, is that these curtailed adventures are more appealing to modern audiences, who reportedly lack the stamina to make it through a seven / 10 / six episode arc. Although, ironically, these particular Doctor Who stories are gripping enough already, and rarely tread water – even ‘The War Games’ manages to keep up the pace despite being four hours in length.
So which Doctor Who story should be the next to receive a trim? It’s a tough call to make; if the BBC pick a popular Doctor Who story (like ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang‘) they risk upsetting the fans who cherish the original. But if they pick one of the ‘less exciting’ adventures (like ‘The Sensorites’) will it be interesting enough to woo viewers to the Whoniverse?
Actually, speaking of ‘The Sensorites,’ this might be a good place to begin. It’s a Doctor Who story that is often overlooked; there’s nothing overly spectacular about it, and there’s nothing truly awful, either. On the DVD release, Toby Hadoke lamented the fact that it didn’t even have the decency to get wiped so that we could mourn its loss and fantasise about how wonderful it must have been.
‘The Sensorites’ is certainly a slow burner – one of the earliest, serious science fiction adventures from Doctor Who‘s first season, in which the Time Lord and his friends discover a race of telepathic creatures living on the mysterious Sense-Sphere, which is soon overwhelmed by a mysterious illness. It’s a very run-of-the-mill, Saturday night drama for the whole family, with some interesting ideas and some great performances – although it does sometimes struggle to maintain its momentum over its two-and-a-half hour length.
A ‘movie’ version of this particular Doctor Who story could, therefore, breathe new life into an adventure which is often forgotten. The only question would be whether the BBC should colourise it or not (which is probably a blog post for another day.) Perhaps they could release two versions – one in black and white, and one in colour – and let the fans choose?
Alternatively, the Beeb could avoid the debate altogether and pick a Doctor Who story which was originally made in colour. Another contender for a special movie edit would be ‘Frontier in Space’ from Jon Pertwee’s fourth season – not that I have any desire to lose a frame from this particular adventure, because it’s a classic.
But of all the Doctor Who stories from this era, ‘Frontier in Space’ is one of the few that actually feels like a movie already, such is its scale and ambition. In the adventure, the Doctor’s old enemy the Master is trying to start a war between two races – the humans and the Draconians. Both are ostensibly peaceful, but deeply suspicious of each other, and the Master is ready to pour gasoline on the proverbial bonfire. Predictably, it’s up to the Doctor to play peacemaker – albeit from behind bars, where he spends most of the story.
And just to make things worse, the Daleks are also keen to get in on the action, and make a surprise appearance in the final episode. The last scene of ‘Frontier in Space’ leads directly into another Doctor Who story ‘Planet of the Daleks,’ so – if the BBC were feeling really ambitious – they could cut together a 12 episode masterpiece comprising both adventures, spanning an eye-watering five hours. (Come on, you know you’d watch it.)
But if you’re after a slightly shorter Doctor Who story, maybe you could look to the Colin Baker era. ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ from 1986 may have been 14 episodes long, but it was broken down into smaller adventures, each of which was interspersed with cutaways to the courtroom with the Doctor and his fellow Time Lords commenting on the action.
However, when this season was released on Blu-ray, the ‘Terror of the Vervoids’ segment was cut-down into a special ‘standalone’ edition with a new title sequence, new special effects, and none of the courtroom drama. Perhaps the BBC could do something similar with the other stories, ‘The Mysterious Planet,’ ‘Mindwarp’ and ‘The Ultimate Foe.’ It would certainly give fans a fresh way to enjoy them, and it would be fascinating to see how these stories flowed without all of the Doctor’s interruptions.
The only problematic Doctor Who story would be ‘Mindwarp,’ owing to its confusing nature. In the adventure, the Time Lord’s brain has been addled by a mind-altering device. In some scenes, he has clearly sided with the bad guys. In others, he is only pretending to have joined the bad guys in order to help his companion Peri. Other scenes never happened at all and were completely fabricated by the Matrix. Would this Doctor Who story be too complicated to cut into a movie?
Perhaps not. After all, there are many other confusing adventures in the Whoniverse, and fans love them: ‘Warriors’ Gate,’ ‘Ghost Light,’ ‘The Curse of Fenric,’ to name a few… Nobody ever switched off Doctor Who because it was too complex.
And finally, just for fun, perhaps the BBC could release another Tales of the TARDIS story starring Ncuti Gatwa. This time, he could be inside the Memory TARDIS with Belinda, looking back on the time his tenth incarnation paid a visit to the planet Midnight. And as the flashback ends, he and Belinda could return to their usual TARDIS and segue into Series Two’s ‘The Well,’ which is a sequel to 2008’s ‘Midnight.’ It would certainly be a neat way of linking the two stories together.
But over to you, reader – which Doctor Who story would you like the BBC to re-edit into a special edition? Do you think the original adventures should be left unaltered? Let us know in the comments below.
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